Freedom
by ashleygrusz
Summary: Tsukiko has lived under her mother's thumb for her entire life, never being able to express any freedom. But soon a strange woman will appear from the shadows and shows her a new world, full of the freedom that Tsukiko has always sorely craved. But will she be able to take that freedom? And is it even really freedom?
1. Chapter 1

_Damn it, why can't I ever just say no?_ Tsukiko thought to herself as she began to clean the classroom by herself after her classmates had asked her to take care of it for them. _I should have told them no, that I have better things to do than their jobs._

Tsukiko sighed as she reached for the broom. _But of course I didn't. I never could stand up to anyone, not them and certainly not Okaa-sama._

Thinking of her mother reminded Tsukiko that she had to be at cram school or she would face her mother's . . . irritation. Hurrying through her forced tasks, Tsukiko kept wondering why it was that she could talk a big game in her head, but never actually say any of it.

As soon as she finished, she began to pray that she wouldn't be late for cram school as she began to run. Perhaps if she hadn't been in such a rush, she would have noticed the dark figure watching her from the shadows.

* * *

Tsukiko just barely managed to get to the school on time, panting and out of breath as she flung herself into her chair before abruptly sitting upright and looking around her. _I hope that no one saw that. If Okaa-sama found out that I had done something so unladylike, she would be furious. Especially if she heard that I had run here._

Seeing no one paying any more attention to her than usual, Tsukiko allowed herself to relax slightly, though she still took care to ensure that her posture was perfect, her mother would never allow her to slouch. As the teacher finally walked in and began teaching, Tsukiko gradually allowed her nerves to settle down as she listened to the man drone on and on.

As she relaxed, Tsukiko began to consider the path that her life had taken. She and her mother were American and had lived in Arizona ever since Tsukiko was a small child. Her mother had given Tsukiko a Japanese name in deference to her ex-husband who had been Japanese, but had never allowed him to see her after their divorce.

Tsukiko often wondered if her life would have been better if her father had won the custody battle. Would she be happier? Well, she reasoned, she certainly couldn't be any more miserable.

Ever since her father had left, her mother had become even more of a tyrant in how she raised her daughter. She had ensured that Tsukiko had all of the luxuries that came from being a world-class surgeon, but at the same time had made all of her daughter's choices, from where she would attend school to which classes her daughter would take, and even what career her daughter would have in the future. Tsukiko had heard the lectures many times before, that she would graduate from high school at the top of her class and go on to become a surgeon just like her mother at the Shinto Teito Universities, hailed as one of the best universities in the world.

Looking back, Tsukiko believed that she understood why her mother had married a Japanese man, however briefly. Perhaps her mother had been planning, even back then, to have a child who would follow in her footsteps. It would certainly explain why she had had Tsukiko keep her father's last name while removing all other traces of him from their lives. It was so when they moved to Japan, Tsukiko wouldn't stick out.

Growing up, Tsukiko had wondered why her mother insisted that she learn to speak Japanese as soon as she could speak despite their seeming to be no use for it. The way that her mother had already planned her life out certainly made it seem that the woman had been planning this since before she was even born.

How disappointed she must have been when Tsukiko had inherited her mother's long blonde hair and blue eyes. The only attributes that Tsukiko could even consider as having been received from her father were her high cheekbones and diminutive height which certainly fell short of her mother's nearly six foot frame.

 _No_ , Tsukiko thought to herself, _even these must have seemed like minor setbacks to Okaa-sama. After all, she's certainly planned for every contingency since then, so she must have known that there was a possibility that I would look more like her than my father, whoever he is._

Eventually, the class ended and Tsukiko realised that she hadn't taken a single note throughout it. Hopefully her mother would be satisfied with her latest grades and not question her about the course.

Tsukiko couldn't help internally snorting at that thought. Of course her mother wouldn't be satisfied with anything that she had done. After all, in her mother's eyes, Tsukiko had been a screw up ever since she was born. Nothing she did was ever good enough, nothing was perfect. Sighing, Tsukiko shoved all of her introspective thoughts to the back of her mind, knowing that no matter how much she might wish it could happen, she'd never be able to please her mother, or escape from her.

* * *

When Tsukiko arrived home, she expected to be alone, perhaps with the maid scurrying around to get rid of even the smallest traces of dust that may have appeared throughout the day, but still, for the most part, alone.

So she couldn't be more surprised when she walked in to find her mother sitting on her white chair in the living room, calmly reading a medical journal as she sipped a cup of coffee. She was so shocked by her mother's presence that she could only stare until the woman spoke up. "Tsukiko, haven't I taught you that it is unseemly to gape at anything that suits your fancy? Not to mention that you just arrived home, but have neglected to even attempt to greet me. Is this how you treat everyone you meet? Or did I simply raise an incredibly rude child?"

Tsukiko took a moment to gather her ability to speak before finally saying, "I apologize for my lack of manners, Okaa-sama. Of course I should have greeted you as soon as I arrived. I was simply surprised by your presence, I thought that you had a meeting with the hospital board today."

Her mother sniffed before explaining, "I had some time before the meeting, so I thought that I would come home to speak to you for a moment. Recently, it's come to my attention that you have been going on websites pertaining to teenage fashion on your laptop. Is this correct?"

Tsukiko desperately tried to come up with an excuse, any excuse, for why she had been on those sites, anything to avoid displeasing her mother. After a moment though, Tsukiko realised that it was inevitable that she would find out, especially with her stranglehold on Tsukiko's life.

"Yes, Okaa-sama," she finally, miserably, whispered as her eyes found the carpet.

"Tsukiko," her mother said sharply, "you know how I feel about not looking at the person whom you are speaking to. And why are you whispering? Haven't I taught you how rude that is?"

Forcing herself to meet her mother's eyes, Tsukiko said more clearly, "I apologise, Okaa-sama. I didn't mean to disrespect you."

"Better," the woman replied, before saying, "Now then, about these websites, I do hope that you haven't been paying too much attention to them. I certainly won't have you dressing like some common hussy as the girls on these websites do. You will always look like the respectable young lady that I have raised you to be, both in public and in private. Honestly, could you imagine how people would react to the valedictorian of Shinto Teito University dressing like a trollop while she is younger?"

"They would be outraged, Okaa-sama," Tsukiko dutifully parroted back the response that her mother had trained her to say.

"That's right. So put such frivolous things out of your mind, and focus on your schoolwork. Now then, I need to get to my meeting. I assume that this is the last time that we will need to speak about this?" she questioned with her eyebrow raised.

"Of course, Okaa-sama. I apologise, it was foolish of me to go on to those sites to begin with. I was simply curious about the social nuances of my generation."

Elizabeth Mizushima nodded approvingly at her daughter's words as she stood up to go to her meaning. "Excellent. Now that you have seen then, you understand that such things are entirely inappropriate for someone with your future." With those final words, Elizabeth walked out, ignoring the turmoil she had unleashed in her daugter.

As soon as the door closed behind her mother, Tsukiko had to restrain herself from running, knowing that her mother's staff would inform her immediately if Tsukiko were to take such a graceless action.

Finally reaching her room, Tsukiko desperately tried to keep the tears from falling by focusing on her small space within the apartment, filled with familiar things. But looking at the furniture that had been chosen by her mother's interior designer and approved by Elizabeth, along with the closet full of clothing that had been chosen by her mother's stylist only solidified the feeling of being suffocated by her mother's control and finally caused the tears to flow.

Tsukiko flung herself onto her bed as she allowed all of the emotions that she had pent up inside of her flow freely, even while stifling her sobs into her pillow. _What was I thinking, going onto those sites? Did I really think that she wouldn't find out about it? As though my mother would even let me have any privacy, anything that belonged solely to myself._

 _I've always known that my life belonged to my mother, and she'd never allow me to change that. I'll never be able to leave her, I'll never be able to live my own life._

 _I only went on those websites so I could see what other people get, and now I don't even have that. Of course I don't, what made me think that I ever would._

Eventually, the tears ran their course, and Tsukiko began to drift into a fitful sleep, constantly plagued by dreams of being underground with no way out, remembering even in sleep, that she would never have freedom.

But late at night, Tsukiko had a dram different from the others, about a shadowy figure appearing next to her bed and stroking her hair. Though Tsukiko couldn't tell what the figure looked like, the words that it spoke echoed in her mind like a vow as she finally drifted into a deep and peaceful slumber.

 _Soon. Soon we will be together and I will give you freedom._

 **Hi, so to any of you who were expecting Tsukiko to meet her Sekirei right away, I'm afraid that you'll have to wait until the next chapter, which I am going to try to squeeze out in a couple of hours. If I don't make it, then I'll post it next week.**

 **But anyway, this chapter is more of a prologue than anything, since I wanted people to see how Tsukiko both thinks of herself and her life, and basically just lay the groundwork for everything that's gonna start in the next chapter. Can anyone guess who her first Sekirei is? There are some clues in the chapter.**

 **That being said, I'm proud of myself for getting a chapter out with almost 2,000 words. If you've read any of my other stories, you probably know that I usually only post short like 300 word chapter at first that gradually go up in length, so I'm happy that I got here, and hopefully I'll be able to do it again today.**


	2. Chapter 2

When Tsukiko woke up, she couldn't help but wonder what had caused her to have such a strange dream. Certainly, she could understand the idea of why she would have had it. She had wanted someone to help her break free of her mother for years, so it made sense that her subconscious would absorb that desire, and possibly use it to bring her some comfort.

But what she couldn't understand was, while she knew that it had all been a dream, and that she's likely never be free of her mother's machinations, she still felt so hopeful, as though something good would happen today. After a few moments, she decided to just let it be. There was so little to be happy about in her life, she felt that she might as well allow herself to enjoy the happiness for as long as it lasted.

With this thought in mind, Tsukiko began to get ready, though she still regretted that she'd been caught going against her mother's plan, as it meant that one of the things that most interested her would be impossible for her to see. But she reasoned, things could be worse. Her mother could have found out that she'd run to cram school, or that she'd ignored the entire lesson once there.

Going about her day, Tsukiko didn't quite start to smile, but she was more content, she supposed the word was, as though she thought that while things weren't really good now, they'd get better soon, so she just had to wait. Thinking about it, she decided that that was exactly the kind of hopeful feeling that she was experiencing, almost as though she really believed that vow that she had heard in her dream.

Amused at her own thoughts, Tsukiko, while not wanting to destroy this feeling, forced herself to acknowledge that things probably wouldn't get better so that when things stayed the same, she wouldn't be too crushed. Despite her best efforts though, she couldn't make herself believe her own words, as the hopeful feeling proved too persistent to be reigned in so easily. Still, Tsukiko couldn't bring herself to dislike it, even though she knew that it would only hurt her later on.

While Tsukiko may have thought that this feeling wouldn't change anything, the students in her class noticed that she had changed. Most of them had gotten used to ignoring the apparently antisocial gaijin, but even they couldn't help but notice that she seemed more approachable today. None of them really wanted to get close to her considering how easily she had brushed them off in the past, but some of them began to think that if she kept up this slightly light hearted behaviour for a while, they may just give her a chance.

* * *

After cram school had finished, Tsukiko's newfound hope was still in full effect, if anything it was even stronger than before, as though her subconscious knew something that the rest of her didn't. The girl had long since given up trying to bring it down a few notches so as to prevent the disappointment that was sure to come, deciding that she'd enjoy the happiness while she had it.

Sadly, that happiness crashed and burned as she began to walk towards the train station that she took every night. The path that way went through a few of the seedier alleys in the city, but it was better than having to go along the path that led to the business section of the city. That way would be faster in theory, but in reality it would be so clogged with businessmen and shoppers that she'd probably miss her train if she went that way, and then she could be certain that the staff would inform her mother of her late arrival.

Unfortunately, tonight was the night that she would learn there was a reason that people would brave the crowded business sector before they went through the back alleys to get to the station. As she walked, she passed three men who, from the smell of them, had just been kicked out of a bar. Seeing them, Tsukiko immediately began to walk faster, not wanting to run, but also not wanting to spend longer in their presence than she had to.

Sadly, the men didn't take the hint and began to follow her. For a moment, Tsukiko considered simply dropping her wallet on the street for them to pick up, but she was too scared that they would catch up to her while she fumbled for her wallet, not to mention that these men were so drunk she doubted they'd even be able to understand that she was giving it to them . . . if her wallet was even what these men wanted.

This suspicion was even further supported when the men began to call after her, asking her why she was leaving, and if she thought that she was too good for them. While privately Tsukiko did think that she was, in fact, too good for these men, she didn't see anyway that informing them of that would help her get home safely and with all of her clothes on.

 _Next time I see Okaa-sama, I'm going to beg her to either hire me a driver, or to allow me to take a self defense class._

"Hey sugar, there's no need to rush, we'll take good care of you."

 _Definitely the self defense class._

Tsukiko was so focused on getting away from the men that she didn't realise that she was no longer walking in the direction of the train station. In fact, she didn't know where she was to begin with. A fact that was cemented when she turned into another alley that was revealed to be a dead end.

 _Oh Kami-sama, no. I don't want it to end this way. Not here, and not with these men._

As she closed her eyes from the fear, she heard a loud 'oof' noise.

 _What did they have a falling out over which of them was going to rape me first? Well, at least if they did, then maybe it won't hurt as much as it would if they all shared me_ , Tsukiki thought bitterly.

However, when she looked up, she saw quite a different scene from the one she had expected. The men who been following her were indeed fighting, but they were . . . fighting with someone else.

 _Wha-I was sure there were only three of them. And wait, is that . . . a woman they're fighting?_ Tsukiko slowly realised.

After another moment, all of the men were lying on the ground, either unconscious or dead, Tsukiko couldn't tell which. And the woman who had put them there was slowly walking towards her. Unsure of whether this woman had only meant to help her, or if she had only stepped in in order to steal the men's prey, Tsukiko slowly pressed against the wall behind her, knowing that even if she wanted to, she wouldn't be able to outrun this woman, not from what Tsukiko had seen of her fight.

Oddly enough, the woman seemed almost hurt by Tsukiko's reaction, her face falling in sadness before filling with determination. "Hey, I'm not gonna hurt you," she said as she walked forward, invading Tsukiko's personal space to the point that their chests almost touched.

Or they would have if the woman wasn't quite so tall. As it stood, Tsukiko's face was nearly touching the woman's breasts. Looking down, Tsukiko realised that the woman's odd lack of boundaries wasn't the only thing that was strange about her. She seemed to be wearing a bikini top under a shawl of some kind, and some odd skirt.

Looking at her, Tsukiko also realised with a start that this woman probably wasn't Japanese either, if her dark skin was anything to go by. So Tsukiko wondered what on earth this woman was doing in a back alley in Japan's capital, despite not having much room to talk in that department.

She was jerked out of her musings when the woman said, "You know, as much as I appreciate knowing that you're interested in what you see, my eyes are up here."

"I-I'm sorry," Tsukiko stammered out, and then panicked, remembering how much her mother hated it when she stammered, always saying that a real lady should keep her composure at all times. "Oh, Kami-sama, please don't tell my mother I did that. She'd be furious."

To her surprise, the woman laughed, "Well I suppose it's good to know that you already consider me good enough to meet your parents. But tell me, do you always invite strangers over to your house like that?" she asked, sounding as though she were holding back more laughter.

Tsukiko couldn't stop her blush, trying to insist that she did no such thing though this only incited more of a stammer. After a moment though, the woman stopped laughing and said, "I'm sorry, I suppose I shouldn't have teased you like that during our first meeting, Tsukiko-sama."

"H-How do you know my name?" Tsukiko tried once more to press herself against the bricks.

"Ah, damn, I'm definitely not doing this very well, am I? But first calm down, I already told you that I'm not going to hurt you, and I do keep my promises," the stranger told her. "Well, there's a lot of stuff that I need to tell you actually, but to start off with, you should know why I'm here."

Smirking slightly, the woman pulled back enough that Tsukiko could see her face, though she had to crane her neck a bit and most of the woman's face was shadowed. Still, there was no denying the amusement that the woman seemed to be feeling at this meeting, as she said, "I'm Sekirei No. 57, Yahan, and you are my Ashikabi."

"Wait, what do you mean by that?"

But it was apparently too late for that, as the woman was already leaning towards her face as she murmured, "There's no need to be scared. I promised you freedom with me, and I will give it to you, my dearest Ashikabi."

At the mention of her promise, Tsukiko finally realised why the woman's voice had put her at ease. It was the same voice that she had heard the night before in her dream. But Tsukiko didn't have a lot of time to try to figure out how that could happen as Yahan kissed her, causing wings of black light to emerge from her back, only visible because of the pale moonlight that had been visible in the alley before. Leaning back from the kiss, Yahan recited, "Shadows of my pledge, conceal my Ashikabi from her foes forever more!" before saying, "Well, I guess it's you and me from now on, Tsukiko-sama, I'll protect you forever" to her red faced and shell shocked Ashikabi.

 **So it's been mentioned that, so far, Tsukiko has no personality, and that's kind of by design. It's also the purpose of the first chapter, to show that lack of personality. Basically Tsukiko has had to work her entire life to get her mother's love without anyone really showing her that it's okay for her to be who she is, which kind of caused her to suppress her personality to fit her mother's desires, which she basically gave up on trying to break free from.**

 **You can kind of see that defeatism in this chapter too because, I don't know about the rest of you, but if someone was following me into an alley, I'd be screaming at the top of my lungs and biting anything I could get my teeth into, rather than just kind of waiting for it to happen while making bitter comments about my attackers. So yeah, a big part of this story is getting Tsukiko to actually be herself instead of trying to be her mother's clone.**

 **Finally, I can't remember if I said this in the last chapter, so I'll say it here. I've kind of figured out a new updating schedule that I think'll work. It's on my profile for those of you who want to know, just scroll down until you see the section where to says "Updates."**


	3. Chapter 3

It took Tsukiko several minutes to even realise what had just happened. It took her even longer to realise that she hadn't hallucinated, that she really had seen black wings come out of the woman's back. The woman who was still leaning over her and looking at her lips.

It was that last bit that finally forced Tsukiko to respond to all that had happened to her. She said, "I'm sorry, could you explain what you meant by that, miss?" while moving to the side, desperately trying to get out from between the wall and the woman.

With a smirk on her face that said that she knew what Tsukiko was doing, the woman stepped back and said, "Well, we could start with how I'm Yahan, not miss."

Blushing, Tsukiko started to stammer again before forcing herself to stop. "I'm sorry, Yahan-san. I should have introduced myself to you. My name is-"

"Tsukiko Mizushima, yeah I know," Yahan said with a lazy smile.

Uncertain of how to proceed when she couldn't follow her mother's guidelines, and also beginning to wonder of the woman before her might be a stalker of some sort, Tsukiko tried to quickly get away from her. "Yes well, this had certainly been an interesting night, but I really do need to be getting home."

"So that you can still be Okaa-sama's good little girl." At Tsukiko's shocked gasp, Yahan's smile grew even bigger. But when she noticed the fear that was growing in her Ashikabi's eyes, she toned it down and said softly, "Look, I get that you need to be home by a very specific time, and I promise you that I'll make sure that you get home on time. Trust me, I can get you there a lot faster than any train could, so just talk with me for a little bit, okay?" Looking around and seeming to notice that they were in an alley all of a sudden, Yahan reached forward to take Tsukiko's arm, saying, "Why don't we go somewhere a bit more pleasant?"

In a surprisingly short amount of time, the two girls wound up in a park. Surprised, Tsukiko mentioned, "I didn't know a park like this was here."

"How could you? It's not like you're allowed to enjoy the city," Yahan stated.

Tsukiko looked lost for words for a moment, but, seeming to realise that the tall ebony-haired woman was right, simply kept quiet as she was led to a bench.

Yahan finally broke the silence after she had begun lounging on the bench. "Why don't you just say what's on your mind already?"

Tsukiko struggled for a moment, trying to figure out what the strange woman meant, but finally decided that she wouldn't get anything by staying quiet. Despite that, she couldn't bring herself to completely abandon her manners, deciding to quietly say, "Yahan-san, I do appreciate your helping me earlier, but I don't understand what you were saying earlier."

"Ah, you mean about the whole Sekirei Plan thing, right?" Yahan asked lazily. "Well, technically that person is supposed to explain it to you, but since it seems like he has better things to do tonight, I guess I'll just have to explain it to you."

Sitting up slightly, Yahan began to explain. "Basically, I'm a Sekirei. We look basically the same as humans but we are much stronger and have different abilities that humans can't use. We're basically in this big last man standing tournament where only the winner will get to stay with their Ashikabi, which is a human that we can take as our partner and master. By the way, if you haven't figured it out yet, you're mine."

Staring at the woman in front of her, Tsukiko finally made her decision about the night's events: she wasn't crazy but this woman certainly was. Just as she began to position herself so that she'd be able to run away from this woman quickly once she was standing. Sensing her Ashikabi's intentions, Yahan sighed and said, "It seems that we'll have to do a bit of show and tell so that you'll understand," and grabbed Tsukiko's arm. "Remember not to let go of me.

The next thing she knew, Tsukiko was in a world where she couldn't see anything. Wondering if she was dead or having a nightmare, she began to struggle only to be stopped by a voice that was quickly becoming familiar to her. "Hey, hey, hey. Calm down, Tsukiko-sama, you're fine. Damn, I guess I should have realised that you'd panic when you couldn't see. But look, just calm down, I'm right here with you okay. See, you can feel me holding your arm, right?"

"Yes," Tsukiko finally whispered shakily, though she quickly latched on the Yahan's arm with her other hand, uncertain of how she'd handle it if she was separated from the only person she knew for certain was with her in this strange world.

Knowing that Tsukiko couldn't see her, Yahan let her smile spread across her face at her Ashikabi already relying on her, even if it was because she had no other choice. "Okay, so we're going to start walking now. Don't let go of me and you'll be fine, kay?"

Hearing her Ashikabi's agreement, Yahan began to walk forward, towing her Ashikabi along behind her. Finally reaching the door that led to the shadow she wanted, Yahan allowed herself to be pulled from the shadow world, along with Tsukiko.

Slightly surprised when her Ashikabi didn't immediately move away from her, she looked down to realise that Tsukiko was probably trying to let her eyes adjust to suddenly being able to see again. Once Tsukiko's eyes had adjusted though, the girl couldn't help but cry out and press closer to the woman who just moments ago, she had been certain was insane for seeming to believe that she was some kind of supernatural creature.

But what other explanation was there for the fact that they were suddenly at the top of a twenty story building? And one that Tsukiko could see was a good few miles from the park they had been in at that.

As she realised that there was no way any human could possibly travel so far so quickly, Tsukiko hesitantly turned to the woman standing beside her and shakily asked, "Um, about that stuff you were saying earlier, I don't suppose you could repeat it?"

 **Sorry for the wait, but I caught a cold and I rarely write anything decent when I'm sick, so I just stuck to outlining the chapters over the last week. Good news is that I should be able to update easily for a while, so I'll see you guys next week.**


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